Sunday, March 22, 2015

Tag line: Sheriff
Jones and Angela Potts were on the trail of the killer who’d wronged Mr. Wright…

Police characters: Sheriff Jones.

The gist:Yesterday someone had shot Alderman Wyatt in
his office at City Hall. He had had no appointments
for the time around his death and no evidence was left at the scene according
to the Crime Scene techs.No strangers
were seen in the area and no one heard anything unusual except one gunshot at
around 2:00 in the afternoon.

Sheriff
Jones suspected one of three people.Bernard was the HR manager who had an office on the third floor across
the street in the courthouse.Bernard’s
wife, Deb, was having an affair with Alderman Wyatt. The second suspect was Attorney Miller who was
hot-headed and was the father of Alderman Wyatt’s wife.The third suspect was the wronged wife
herself, Melissa.Melissa was a circuit
clerk who had an office on the ground floor of the courthouse.

Alderman
Wyatt and Deb thought their affair was a secret, but most everyone in this
small town knew about it. Two of the
suspects did not have good alibis.Attorney Miller had left a Rotary Club meeting at 1:50.The meeting location was only one block away,
giving him enough time to get to Alderman Wyatt’s office by two. Wife Melissa had no witnesses to confirm her
claim that she had been alone working in her office at the time of the murder. Melissa claims that she had eaten lunch and
then went straight to the HR manager’s office for a meeting.

The third suspect,
Bernard the HR manager, had an assistant that backed up his alibi saying he was
in his office all day, and in fact skipped lunch.The assistant told police that she remembered
Melissa arriving there at around 2:10 o’clock because she had an appointment
about an HR matter. The assistant said she was sure of the time because Melissa
had put down her very wet umbrella right next to some papers and they all got
wet.Those documents were being picked
up very shortly, so the assistant had her eye on the clock while she reprinted
them. Melissa’s meeting lasted for about
twenty minutes.

Sheriff
Jones noted that it had rained very hard yesterday between noon and four. When Ms. Potts asked about security cameras, Jones
said there was none in the municipal government building, and that there was no
budget for cameras there, unlike the federal buildings.

Mrs. Potts
knew who had killed the alderman.

Crime scene:Alderman Wyatt’s office.

Clues:The rain.

Suspects: The HR
manager, the wife’s father Attorney Miller, or the wife Melissa.

Red herrings: None.

Solution:The
wife, Melissa, was the killer.Her
office was in the same building as the HR manger.She claimed she left her office and went
directly to the HR meeting.She had no
need to go outside in the rain, yet her umbrella was wet.Her husband’s office was across the street.

My two cents:The tag line was cute,
as was the title.

This story
worked on all levels.The police work
was good.John covered the security
camera angle. There was motive.It was
well written and the pacing was crisp.Mrs. Potts and Sheriff Jones worked well together.In this story he had stopped by her house for
a piece of pie and they were talking about yesterday’s murder. Although not
police protocol, in this small town these two characters do that often, and she
usually sees things that he misses.The
clue was handled very well and slipped in in pieces. First you were told where
her office was when the suspects were being discussed.Later you learned that she had an appointment
with the HR manager and was there around the time of the murder.Then you heard about her ruining some papers
with her wet umbrella.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Tag line: Sergeant Miller could only hope the victim
was sharp enough to outwit the kidnapper!

Police characters: Sgt. Miller, Officer
Polasky

The gist:The alleged victim was the college-aged son of
Doc Brennan.The police had received
tips with regard to a vehicle description and a partial license plate and had
identified the kidnapper as TJ Johnson, a ne-er-do-well.TJs address was a small cabin in the woods
that he had inherited two months prior. The
ransom note demanded $10,000 to be wired to an offshore bank account by midnight
or “they” would knock off the kid.

When police
arrived at the cabin, it appeared to be empty.Thinking that the kidnappers fled the scene with the victim, and knowing
there wasn’t much in the way of gas or food nearby, Sgt. Miller figured TJ
would stop in one of the nearest towns, which would take them either north or
south about 40 miles.

At the cabin
Sgt. Miller noticed fresh tire tracks.He decided to inspect the cabin looking for clues.Inside the cabin was a mess with dirty soda
cups and crumpled burger wrappers. Sgt.
Miller figured there’d be lots of fingerprints but he wasn’t too concerned, as
he already had fingered TJ.There was a
mattress in one bedroom with chains connected to overhead water pipes.This is where Sgt. Miller figured ‘they’ kept
the victim. A piece of white caught Sgt.
Miller’s eye.Under the mattress he
found a monogrammed handkerchief with the initials CJB, the initials of the
victim.Sgt. Miller figured the victim
left the police a clue. There was no
food in that room, but there was a deck of playing cards on the bed.Off to the side, separate from the rest of
the deck, were five cards of various suits neatly placed in a row:
3-5-10-7-3.Officer Polasky figured it
was a zip code but since zip codes only have 5 digits and phone numbers have 7,
Sgt. Miller was stumped.But only for a
moment.After viewing the cards from
different angles, he knew where the kidnappers were headed.

Crime scene:Unknown from where this kid was grabbed.Unknown who had seen it or reported it.

Clues:The cards.

Suspects: Only
TJ.Yet… the story refers in several
places to kidnappers and ‘they’.

Red herrings: Perhaps the mention of an off-shore
bank account would lead the reader to believe the son, who attends Princeton,
might have faked his own kidnapping. This could be a red herring, but I’m of the
opinion that this wasn’t intentionally done.

Solution:Viewing the cards upside down they spelled
Eloise.Lake Eloise was up the road.

My two cents:Problems.We’ve got problems.

There were a
lot of inconsistencies in this one.Is
it one kidnapper or more than one? The story started out with the police
looking to pin this on TJ, but very shortly started referring to ‘kidnappers’
and ‘they’.

If TJ
kidnapped this kid, why did he chain him to the bed in his own cabin if he
planned to hit the road and take him to Lake Eloise?

Sgt. Miller
figured as there was no food or gas around they must be headed to a larger area
that had those resources.If you were going
to kidnap somebody and run wouldn’t you have a full tank of gas and some food
for yourself? Maybe he/they planned to stop
at the side of the road and eat bark.My
point is they wouldn’t necessarily be heading towards the food/gas area.They might be headed to a remote area where
they were going to camp.

There wasn’t food or gas around for 40 miles,
yet the place is littered with burger wrappers.That’s a long way to drive for a Big Mac.

The boy has
a monogrammed handkerchief?What kid do
you know carries that around?Maybe
his grandpa would, but no college kid would. The author needed a clue…she put one in.But it’s not remotely believable.

There was
nothing at all in the room but there was a deck of cards.How convenient. How did the victim get to handle the cards
with his hands chained to the pipes over the bed?With his toes?

This bum TJ
has an off-shore bank account?

Sgt. Miller saw
fresh tires tracks, but no mention of footprints which might tell him how many
people were involved. Okay… maybe there were none.Maybe they hopped straight from the cabin
into the car.

The police
can’t enter the cabin without a search warrant, which can be obtained very
quickly in a situation like this.

Officer
Polasky thought the 6-digits were a zip code.Lord save me from dumbasses.

So, let’s
get to the star rating.The clue?Not believable in the manner it was
presented.Motive?None mentioned.I supposed money.Like always.Police work?Not the brightest
bulbs in the history of law enforcement.Whatever clues they found in the cabin can’t be used in court.These two officers are a defense attorney’s
wet dream. Character believability?You have been reading my comments,
right?Pacing and good writing?Not this time.This one missed the mark. This was a mess. For the first time I want to give a story a minus star rating.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

(Column by Chuck as well as
WD co-editor Brian Klems.
Please note that these guidelines below, while helpful,
should not take the place of formal legal advice.
We are editors, not attorneys.)

Imagine you’re at a writers’ conference. You’re getting
ready to pitch that great novel idea to a bunch of powerful agents. As you walk
up to the microphone, you start to notice all the other writers in the room
staring, pens and pads in their hands. That’s when the questions start flooding
your head. Should you have secured a copyright before spilling your idea
like this? Will other writers steal your concept? Can they do that? Will the
agents ignore your pitch because the book title comes from a Billy Joel song?
Don’t panic—a little paranoia is almost expected. It’s natural for you to want
to protect your work from others. Along with protecting your work from
pilferers, you also have to protect yourself from being sued for legal
infringement. As you compose your work and enter into the publishing world,
it’s vital to know how to navigate the murky waters of copyrights, libel and
other contractual small print. Here’s the scoop on some commonly asked
questions about copyrights and other rights.

Do I need to register my work with the U.S. Copyright
Office to hold a copyright on the work?

No. Your work is copyrighted the moment it hits a tangible
medium—everything from your scribbles on a piece of paper to your musings on
your Internet blog are protected. Putting the word “Copyright” or the copyright
symbol at the front of your text is optional. Using the Copyright symbol on
your manuscript is a topic of contention, though, as agents and editors see it
as the sign of an amateur—because they obviously know your work is protected.
Try to avoid inserting the symbol or the word “Copyright” when querying agents
and editors, but remember to use it when passing your work around—such as to
untrusted peers, other writers or on public forums (i.e., the Internet).

To sum up, your work is copyrighted the moment you write it.
Getting it registered in DC gives it something else — a “super copyright,” if
you will.

So since I do not need to “super copyright” my work to
have basic protection, is there any real incentive to doing so?

It depends on who you ask. If you ask us, it’s not worth it.
(Your publisher will copyright the work when it gets published.) If you ask a
lawyer, they would say Heck yes, because that’s what lawyers do.

Though it’s not mandatory, formally registering your work
will certainly help your cause in court should that scenario occur. If someone
plagiarizes your work and you take the thief to court, the possible
compensation and damages awarded to you are greater if your work is registered.

Our basic advice is this: If you’re really interested in
keeping your work safe, worry less about copyrights, and worry more about where
you’re pasting your work for all to see. Do not put the work out in a place
where you feel its unsafe. Remember: Agents and editors don’t steal stuff; writers
steal stuff.

I’ve heard that if I mail a copy of the printed work to
myself, that proves copyright. Is that true?

“Poor man’s copyright” is a questionably effective tactic
where you mail yourself a manuscript and never open the envelope, thereby
“proving” that you had written your work by a specific date. This is what the
U.S. Copyright Office said about the idea: “The practice of sending a copy of your
own work to yourself is sometimes called a ‘poor man’s copyright.’ There is no
provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is
not a substitute for registration.”

Nowadays, it’s cheaper and easier to simply e-mail the work
to yourself, which you should be doing 1) for copyright protection, and 2) just
to back up your own work. Although this process does not take the place of an
official copyright (a “super copyright”), like the U.S Copyright Office
confirmed, but it can indeed prove when exactly your words were written, and
that may be valuable ammunition in a legal battle.

Does a copyright protect ideas?

No. Let’s say you write a sci-fi story about a soldier who
battles aliens on the moons of Neptune. Your idea—or concept—cannot be
copyrighted, and therefore, can be used by anyone. If someone wants to try
their hand at the same basic premise (soldier, aliens, Neptune), they may, but
they can’t use your characters, dialogue or passages from your text. If
specific things from your story are stolen or copied, you can sue—but just
because someone ripped off your basic concept doesn’t make them culpable.

What are the legal ramifications of reproducing song
lyrics in a manuscript? Also, can I use a song title as the title of my book?

Song lyrics are copyrighted, which means you need permission
to use them. Although there isn’t any specific law about how much you can take
under fair use, it’s common for the music industry to say you need permission
for even one line of a song. Publishers will usually assist in securing
necessary permissions for you during the publishing process.

Differently, song and book titles of any kind generally
aren’t copyrightable—the only exception being those rare titles subject to
trademark or unfair competition laws. Titles that fall in this small category
are closely tied to a specific artist. (Think “Yellow Submarine” or “Stairway to
Heaven.”)

In a work of fiction, what restrictions exist on using
the names of professional sports teams, TV networks or real people?

If your character is a Dodgers fan that watches CNN and
walks past Rupert Murdoch on the street, you generally won’t have lawyers
calling for your head. You can use these well known proper names in your text
as long as you don’t intentionally try to harm the reputation of that person or
product.

Normally you won’t catch much grief for writing neutral or
positive words about real people, places and things. It’s the negative press
you provide that could be considered trade libel or commercial
disparagement—both ugly phrases that could cost you plenty of cash in a court
of law.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

Tag line: Who had been to tee’d off at Birdie Harris the he’d used the golf pro’s own
club to kill him?

Police characters: Detective Bea Smart

The gist:The ME pronounced Birdie dead at the victim’s
home.Cause of death was a blow to the
head.Time of death was about one hour
ago. It appeared that Birdie, a golf
pro, had come outside to practice on his putting green when someone struck him.
Birdie’s expensive golf bag and clubs
were beside the body.Birdie’s caddy
Frank, found the body.Frank called
Russell, Birdie’s manager, and Russell called 911.

A neighbor
told police she had heard Birdie and Russell arguing loudly yesterday over a
contract.Russell told police he had
been at Birdie’s the day before but it was to try outthe new club Birdie had purchased two days
ago, which he thought was overpriced and overrated.He claims they did have a loud discussion
about Birdie buying a golf course that Russell thought was in such a bad location
he figured it must be a scam.

The caddy,
Frank, said he had been tending to his sick father all week and just got
back.He claimed that Birdie had
e-mailed him last night and invited him to drop by this morning to see a new
swing he had developed with his new club.When he arrived, Frank claimed he found Birdie dead. He told police the only enemy he knew of was a
newcomer to the golf world named JR Wright who was jealous of the prize money
Birdie often won.

A heavy-set
man interrupted the police investigation by stomping across the lawn and demanding
to know why the police were there and where was Birdie?The man, Peter, claimed he and Birdie golfed
almost daily and that he and Birdie had a game scheduled at the club this
morning.When told Birdie was dead,
Lang said they had just played yesterday and he had tried out the new golf
club, which he didn’t like very much.

The police
took the golf bag and clubs back to the lab for fingerprint analysis.All three men told police they would find
their fingerprints on those clubs.The
golf club was determined to indeed be the murder weapon.When the FP analysis was done crime scene
found four sets of prints: the victim’s, manager Russell, golf buddy Lang, and
caddy Frank.

Detective
Bea knew who the killer was.

Crime scene:Golf pro’s yard.

Clues:The new golf club, who had touched it and
when.

Suspects: Russell, Lang, or Frank.

Red herrings: This so-called enemy JR Wright.In fact the title of this story alludes to
him.

Solution:Frank, the caddy, was the killer.If he had been away for a week, how could his
fingerprints be on the club unless he used it to kill Birdie.When questioned, Frank told police Birdie had
planned on firing him and hiring a new caddy.Frank became enraged and struck his employer with the fatal blow.

My two cents:Bea Smart?((groans))

Okay, let’s
see.Police work, my favorite thing, first.Most
of it was very good.The only slip was
when Lang came stomping across the yard.A murder crime scene is taped off, security officers are stationed at
the door, and people can’t come walking into a crime scene. The ME is there,
crime scene is there.Realistically Lang
wouldn’t have made it past the front door.But that’s pretty minor.I won’t
deduct the police-work star for that little slip because the rest was properly
executed, but I wish an officer had brought the man back.

There was
motive.There was a good clue.

The story
mostly read well and the pacing was good.The only clumsy spot for me was when Lang was told about his friend
being dead he carried on about trying out that new golf club and now much he
didn’t like it. It doesn’t seem likely
that it would be the first few things out of his mouth.I wish the author had slipped in how his
fingerprints could have been on that club in a more realistic way.I have to deduct one star for character
work.Lang’s reaction was not believable
nor was that section well written.

The other characters
were well defined and developed.Except the
detective’s name.That was a little
corny, but that’s a matter of taste.

The gist:Sheriff Jones’s niece is engaged to a criminal
with a past record who is now linked to a kidnapping.Lizzie, the victim, went jogging Wednesday
night and never came back.Security
cameras at her building confirm she did not return home, nor did anyone else
enter her apartment. Lizzie made the ransom call herself to her parents saying
that her abductor had her at gunpoint and demanded two hundred thousand dollars
to be left in a bag at midnight on Friday at Highway 8 and Cypress Road where
there is nothing but swamp and woods, a hard area to stake out.

Lizzie’s shoe was found in her parents’
mailbox.It was a shoe that only Lizzie could have had since
her parents ran a boutique and had just gotten them in exclusively in their
store and Lizzie had taken a pair for herself before they were even put out for
sale.The she had a note that read, “Just
to prove it’s her.” The note was signed COD, which made Sheriff Jones, whiz cop
that he is, to think it was from Clayton Owen Darrow, his niece’s fiancé.Clayton had dated Lizzie for almost a year
and according to Lizzie’s mother Clayton was pretty distraught when Lizzie
dumped him. But a few months later he
began dating Jones’s niece.

When the police tried to find Clayton to speak
to him they learned he was conveniently up in the hills fishing, a spot with no
cell reception.Jones’s niece said Clayton was innocent and that
he dumped Lizzie, not the other way around.

Mrs. Potts
believed Lizzie faked her own kidnapping in order to get money from her rich parents
so she could run away from them, and at the same time get to blame the guy who
jilted her.

What does
Ms. Potts see that Sheriff Jones doesn’t?

Crime scene:Unknown.Kidnapping on a street.

Clues:The shoe in the mailbox.

Suspects: Clayton
or Lizzie.

Red herrings: None.

Solution:If Liz
had been abducted while jogging she wouldn’t have been wearing an expensive
heel.Her apartment didn’t record anyone
coming to her apartment so the ‘kidnapper’ couldn’t have gone in to acquire the
shoe after the fact.

My two cents:I’m not going to bore
you with a long rant on police work and the fact that Sheriff Jones blabs about
his cases to a civilian, he’s an idiot who never does a decent or proper
investigation, yada-yada-yada.Waste of
my breath.(Minus 1 star for police work.)

Sheriff
Jones is still quite unlikable with his whining and long faces and dejected
manner.I’d like to just slap him.Hard. (Minus 1 star for character development.There was none.)

The clue was
hinky.Nowhere in the story did it say the shoe in
the mailbox was a fancy high heel.It
said it came from her parents’ boutique, that it was expensive and exclusive,
and that Lizzie had grabbed herself a pair before they even went on sale.They could have been pricy running shoes. (Minus 1 star for bad or misleading clue.)I’m not even sure why the ‘kidnapper’ had to ‘prove
it was her’ with the shoe in the first place.Didn’t Lizzie call her parents and tell them she had been
kidnapped?Duh.

This story
actually read well and the pacing was good, and there was a believable motive earning
this story 2 stars.

Angela Potts
is being mentioned in the tag line now.I guess she’s the draw for these stories.Go figure. At least she wasn't mean to him. In fact, she was rather tame in this story.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Tag line: The
detective was looking for a sign that would put her on track to find the murderer!

Police characters: Detective Marie DeLuca

The gist:The butler was acting odd; giddy almost,
sitting in a chair smoking a cigar and waving around a large snifter of
brandy.He was complaining that the
death of Uncle Dunbar, his employer, was going to leave him without work and he
was annoyed. Portly nephew, Donald, told the butler to button up, that the
uncle never liked him anyway.Nephew #2,
David, responded back that uncle never liked Donald either.

On the day
of his death Dunbar had been working in his library.He had had no appointments and no one had
called.The two nephews had arrived late
in the afternoon and found him slumped in his chair with a letter opener lodged
in his chest.The two nephews were the
only ones that had keys and could bypass the butler to enter the home.

Donald
blamed the butler, saying Dunbar was going to leave him something in his will. The
butler said the amount he was going to be left wasn’t much, and that Dunbar was
worth more to him alive than dead.He
added that that fact wasn’t true of either of the nephews.

David said
he had come to call on his uncle because he needed him to sign a loan for his
failing business. He produced a sealed, stamped envelope to the detective.When opened by crime scene it revealed a loan
agreement with a blank line where the uncle was to sign.

Donald told
police that his uncle had lent him some money several months back and he had
come to pay him back.He showed the
police a wad of money that he withdrew from his pocket.

Detective
DeLuca knew who had killed Uncle Dunbar.

Crime scene:Uncle Dunbar’s residence.

Clues:None that could be discerned from the body of
the story.

Suspects: The butler, Donald, or David.

Red herrings: The butler was acting odd.Was he trying to cover up his guilt with
strange behavior? He was in the will but
said it wasn’t for a large amount.What
is ‘a large amount’ to him? This was
left unanswered to throw the reader off.

Solution:David, who had come for the loan, was the
killer.Uncle Dunbar had refused to sign
the loan and while David stood at his desk Dunbar had made a show of folding
the unsigned papers, sealing the envelope, stamping it and handing it back to David.Furious, David stabbed his uncle then
arranged to find the body with his brother later on.

My two cents:Good grief.Anything else the author wants to leave
out?How can the reader ‘solve-it’ when
the story doesn’t have the needed details?This is not hiding a clue, this is misleading by leaving information out.

The fact
that the envelope was sealed and had a stamp on it wasn’t a clue in my
eyes.Who was it addressed to? David could have planned on sending the papers
to his uncle but instead decided to visit him in person and brought the
envelope with him.

This story
was poorly executed. The police work was
off, as the detective was interviewing everyone together. This is not done. She announced to everyone that it was
murder.Not done. They opened the envelope in front of everyone.Not done. The crime scene tech opened the envelope and
read it and decided what it was and announced it in front of the detective who
was assigned to the case.Not done.

There was
motive. The usual motive; money.

Not much was
included in the way of character development. Both nephews were overweight,
both were irritated, both had money problems.((yawn)).The only entertaining character
was the butler.

The pacing was off.A few rather long sections of info and a few
parts that were too short.Way too much
in the beginning about the butler (although it was the best part of the
story).Way too much to-do about the crime
scene tech opening the letter.The rest
of the story was fed to us in quick spurts, almost as if it didn’t matter.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Book ‘em, Dano.

Booking records provide information about the people
who are brought to jail. Because booking creates an official arrest
record, arrested suspects who can post bail immediately often can’t be released
until after the booking process is complete. Even suspects who receive
citations in lieu of being taken to jail often must go through a booking
process within a few days of their arrest.

How Long Does Booking
Take?

At its slowest, the booking process may take hours to
complete. How long it takes depends on how many of the standard booking
procedures are conducted (explained below), the number of arrestees being
booked at the same time, and the number of police officers involved in the
booking process.

Typical Steps in the
Booking Process

Step 1: Recording the suspect’s name and the crime for
which the suspect was arrested

In olden days, this information became part of a handwritten
police blotter; now virtually all booking records are computerized.

Step 2: Taking a "mug shot"

Mug shots have a variety of possible uses. For instance, a
mug shot can help to determine which of two people with the same name was
arrested. A mug shot can also help to establish a suspect’s physical condition
at the time of arrest. The suspect’s physical condition at arrest can be
relevant to a claim of police use of unlawful force or to whether the suspect
had been in an altercation before being arrested.

At a suspect’s request, some booking officers allow suspects
to keep small personal items like a wristwatch. Any articles taken from the
suspect must be returned upon release from jail, unless they constitute
contraband or evidence of a crime.

Step 4: Taking fingerprints

Fingerprints are a standard part of a booking record, and
are typically entered into a nationwide database maintained by the FBI and
accessible to most local, state, and federal police agencies. Comparing
fingerprints left at the scene of a crime to those already in the database
helps police officers identify perpetrators of crimes. Most likely these will
consist of black ink and a print card.More modern police departments may have a print scanner, a device that electronically
scans the print and saves the data.

Step 5: Conducting a full body search

Police officers routinely make cursory pat-down inspections
at the time of arrest. Far more intrusive (and to many people, deeply
humiliating) is the strip search that is often part of the booking process. To
prevent weapons and drugs from entering a jail, booking officers frequently
require arrestees to remove all their clothing and submit to a full body
search.

Strip searches are legal even when the arrestee has been
brought in for a relatively minor crime, such as an infraction; and even when
there are no facts that would suggest that the arrestee is carrying a weapon or
contraband. In a 2012 case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such a search was
legitimate even in the case of a person who was stopped for a traffic violation
and arrested for failure to pay an outstanding fine (the fine had in fact been
paid long ago). (Florence v. County of Burlington, No. 10-945.)

Step 6: Checking for warrants

The booking officer checks to see if an arrestee has any
other charges pending, ranging from unpaid parking tickets to murder charges in
other states. Suspects with warrants pending are normally not released on bail.

Step 7: Health screening

To protect the health and safety of jail officials and other
inmates, the booking process may include X-rays (to detect tuberculosis)
and blood tests (to detect sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and
AIDS).

Step 8: Eliciting information relevant to incarceration
conditions

To reduce the likelihood of violence and injuries, jail
officials often ask arrestees about gang affiliations, former gang
affiliations, and other outside relationships. Depending on the answers, an
inmate may have to be placed in protective custody or housed in one section of
a jail rather than another. Routine questioning along these lines does not
constitute an “interrogation” that requires officers to give a Miranda
warning to the suspect. Information that suspects disclose in response to a
booking officer’s questions may be admissible in evidence under the “routine
booking question exception” to Miranda. (Pennsylvania v. Muniz,
U.S. Sup. Ct. (1990).

Step 9: DNA sample

Suspects may be required to provide DNA samples that are
entered in national DNA databases.

Mom on my porch, doing the same jigsaw puzzle she does every day.

Kayla, my granddaughter. :)

NEW: Welcome Switzerland. My 58,000th hit!

Total Pageviews

78 Pages full of tips. Click on cover for link. Only $1.99.

Editors can spot a new writer. Sound advice on how to look like a pro, with tips to fool the editors and get your piece in the door and on an editor's desk. After that, it's all up to your voice. Includes common pitfalls to avoid, ways to improve and produce fresh writing, and polishing techniques from someone who has been in your typing chair. Not a textbook. Not a tutorial. Just a collection of down-to-earth, practical, easy to understand examples on how to improve your writing.

Fast, Fun and Felonious Romance

CLICK ON BOOK. "If I knew then what I know now I would have put clowns on my wedding cake." - from Playing Dead

Translate

Cover

Viewers of this blog are from 105 countries and 6 of the 7 continents.

Cover

Every Wednesday

Want help with your story?

My day job puts me in contact with real cops, detectives, FBI agents and DEA guys. I have worked thousands of cases from the homeless guy on the Metrorail who got arrested for jumping the turnstile -- that’s right, arrested for not having a quarter -- to the Tamiami Strangler, a serial killer who strangled hookers along the famous trail in Miami. I produce court transcripts for a living.

Who better to look at your mystery stories to see if the police procedures are true, the clues are solid and the whole thing works? I will not hesitate to point out the good, the bad and the ugly in your story. Both of my WW mysteries made it to Johnene. From there? Cross your fingers.

The line-by-line edit, which also includes grammar, spelling and proofing, will offer suggestions on how to improve problem spots. The cost is $29 payable by PayPal. 72-hour turn around time.

I’ll also take a second look once you’ve revamped your story, but this time I’ll only look for glaring errors assuming all the details you chose to put in you want to stay in.

Send your story as a Word e-mail attachment to ladyrprter at aol dot com, and the fee to PayPal using ladyrprter at aol dot com for the payee

Your tag line is the hook that gets someone interested in reading your work. It's one of the most important lines of your story. Take time to make it sparkle.

Criminals don't always think the crime through--especially if the crime is one of passion or revenge--but don't have them make stupid or stilly mistakes just to get your story written. Make the mistakes something that you just normally don't think about. Like the pruning skin in this story.

You don't always have to have crime scene details to make a mystery story work. Cozy mysteries sell well if you make the characters interesting.

Once again WW chose a story with a female cop and little old ladies. Just remember to use the proper words for the crimes and before you say things like, he jimmied the lock, understand just what that is.

You've only got 700 words. Make them count. Don't waste words on things that don't matter. And NEVER give a clue and then later in the solution change it to the opposite. That's not fair. Just how is the reader supposed to figure it out then?

There are many ways to lay out the solve-it-yourself story. You don't always have to have the reader guess who the perp is. This week's story was presented with a fresh angle. We knew who did it. The question was did she cover her tracks well enough to fool the police?

As writers we often ask the reader to suspend disbelief a bit, but don't overdo it. Keep it as real as you can or you'll lose the reader.

If you have four suspects, have four good motives. Otherwise what's the point in having four suspects? It is almost a sin to have four suspects and not have even one decent red herring in the bunch. That's just a waste of words.

When the reader expects one situation, and gets another, that's really a form of a red herring. I expected a tired old theory and was given the surprise of a fresh twist. As the reader I was tricked...and that's a good thing.

When you reuse characters be sure to make them interesting and likable. Being cranky is not the same as being interesting. Be careful to not let one of them become mean. It's hard to like someone who calls people names and teases them about their not so glorious past.

Don't introduce a main character too late in the story. The reader feels cheated.

You don't always have to have police involved for a mystery to work. Be realistic if you are going to use animals in your story. Lassie wasn't real.

Write in more than one good motive. Two or three people could have done it, but only one has the means and opportunity to go with that motive.

I realize you only have 700 words to get in your story, but use every one of those words wisely. Don't repeat to fill the space. If your story is really done in 350 words, your story is too simple.

Try not to use the same old tired solutions. We're writers. Come up with something new and interesting. Treat the readers to a challenge. If I see one more muddy footprint on a white carpet...I'm going to hurt somebody.

Readers like to follow the same characters. Once you sell a mystery to WW, try building up a following by using the same police characters in future stories. Do us all a favor though... make them likable.

I know I'm repeating myself (talk about deja vu) but please try your very best to come up with a fresh twist or interesting solution that hasn't been done before. We want WW readers to LOVE this mystery page...not become bored with it.

Don't use too many names in your story. It just confuses the reader. The story this week handled this extremely well. You knew who you were reading about from the character's description. It all flowed well and never pulled the reader out of the story.

A short story is really just a very short novel. The same rules apply. Give us characters we will love and care about. Don't have them doing silly things.

Once again we have someone not acting right. Check your facts. Check your facts. Check your facts. Did I mention you should ALWAYS check your facts? Getting the details right should just be a given.

Make sure the solution makes sense. Common sense. Put yourself in their shoes. What would you do? Think? How would you act? Don't throw in a rotten fish just for smell.

Know the proper use of words. Men don't leer at each other -- generally. lol. Don't make up a silly details to fit your story line. Make sure everything works and people act in character.

UPDATE: Woman's World has changed their rights clause.

Q: It used to be WW had FNSR, first rights with a 6-month clause. Has that changed?

A: Yes. It used to be first serial rights which meant the magazine had the right to be the first place to publish the article/story/ poem in North America (USA and Canada) and after the piece ran, you were free to resell it to another medium or to package a collection of your work into a book.

However in 2014 Bauer Publishing has changed to this:

License to Bauer Publishing for User Content. You grant to Bauer Publishing the unrestricted, unconditional, non-exclusive, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual and royalty-free right and license to host, use, copy, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sub-license, display, perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, modify, reformat, translate, archive, store, cache or otherwise exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your User Content for any purpose whatsoever in all formats; on or through any media, software, formula or medium now known or hereafter developed; and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed and to advertise, market and promote the same.

About Me

Following sixteen years as a travel agent (more travel than money) Jody Lebel switched gears, returned to school and became a court reporter (more money than travel). She swapped jetting off to fun and exotic locations for reporting the cases of murderers, rapists, and thieves who are, by the way, almost never in a good mood. Being assigned to the chief judge in Broward County exposed her to a wide spectrum of cases; from funny to tragic to bizarre to downright creepy. She has reported everything from a homeless guy who had jumped the turnstile on the Metrorail and was now in jail for not having a quarter, to the Tamiami Strangler, a serial killer who murdered six women. ******
Contact me at ladyrprter at aol dot com

Woman's World Info ...

In 1981, Heinrich Bauer Verlag of Hamburg, West Germany, one of Europe's largest magazine publishers, entered America's highly competitive women's service magazine field when it launched the weekly Woman's World. The magazine quickly set itself apart from the rest of the pack. Other women's magazines of the day were mostly thick slick tomes bursting with ads, and featuring articles geared to upwardly mobile readers. Woman's World, on the other hand, offered a high-quality tabloid-style format light on ads that was aimed at middle-class moms who wanted practical advice on food, fashion, parenting, and beauty and health tips. The public soon took notice. Woman's World quickly became the most popular weekly women's magazine in the country.

Today, Bauer Publishing USA, headquartered in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, is the number one seller of magazines on newsstands in the United States, generating an annual $320 million dollars in single copy revenue. It publishes two of the top five selling titles on the newsstand-Woman's World and In Touch Weekly. For several years running, Woman's World, a fixture at supermarket checkout stands everywhere, was the most popular newsstand magazine of any kind. As it celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2006, Woman's World remains the #1 selling women's publication on newsstands, selling more than 77 million copies in 2004. First for Women, another Bauer publication was second in sales with 25 million. Far back in the pack in third place was Woman's Day, with sales of 16 million newsstand copies.

Woman's World celebrated its 25th year on the newstands in 2006. This weekly publication is the number one newsstand seller with a yearly circulation of well over 84 million. Don't underestimate this little magazine. Woman's World is very popular with middle class women for many reasons. The price is nice, at $1.79 and it has very few ads and none of those annoying subscription cards inside. Every single page is jam packed with information and the romantic fiction and a solve-it-yourself mystery are a nice bonus. The features makes you feel good too.

Woman's World Fiction Guidelines

WOMAN'S WORLD FICTION GUIDELINES Mini mystery guidelines: We purchase short "solve-it-yourself" mysteries of 700 words--a count that includes the narrative and the solution. Stories should be cleverly plotted, entertaining cliffhangers that end with a challenge to the reader to figure out “whodunit” or “howdunit.” The solution to the mystery is provided in a separate box.Robbery, burglary, fraud and murder are acceptable subjects, but spare the readers any gory details or excessive violence, please! We are also not interested in ghost stories, science fiction or fantasy.We pay $500 per mystery and retain all rights after publication.IMPORTANT NOTES:Manuscripts should be double-spaced in legible size type.Where to send manuscripts:

If you have not previously been published by Woman's World magazine: Fiction@WomansWorldMag.com to Patricia Gaddis' attention If you have had a romance or mini-mystery published by Woman's World:FictionPro@WomansWorldMag.com to Patricia Gaddis' attention

Get to know us: Please familiarize yourself thoroughly with our romances and mini mysteries before submitting your work.Be patient: Because we receive a tremendous volume of manuscripts, our turnaround time may range from one to three months. If you still have not heard from us after four months, feel free to submit your manuscript t another publisher. Please do not call or write us to inquire about a manuscript's status.

My track record --

I took Kate Willoughby's workshop on how to write for Woman's World magazine. I highly recommend it. Go to her blogspot site at womansworldstyle.blogspot.com for more info.

Then I sat down and wrote my first romance story for WW. That was in July 2012. It sold in November 2012 and appeared in the December 31st issue.